Becoming a Good Samaritan Sister

Sisters of the Good Samaritan, women religious within the Catholic Church, seek God, the God who impels them to be neighbour. They are women who are yearning for the more in life, and find that more in God and in God’s people.

For more than 160 years, women in Australia, Japan, the Philippines and Kiribati have been responding to God’s invitation to be neighbour, in community together with other like-minded women. They have committed themselves to seeking God in communal prayer, in lectio, in service to others and to a communal way of life.

The Inquiry stage of this journey begins by getting to know the Sisters, joining in their ministries, praying with them, and sharing meals with them. When a young woman is ready for a deeper commitment, she may seek to live with the Sisters in community for a period of time as a Pre-Novice. This is followed by a more intense period of learning to be a Good Samaritan Sister as a Novice usually for two years.

If the young woman, and those who are mentoring her, have discerned that vowed life is for her, she makes a public commitment of vows as a Sister of the Good Samaritan.

During the next few years, she will continue her discernment and study, and will take her place in the congregation’s life and ministry, before making her Perpetual Profession.